For those weary of the consumer Christmas, the economic downturn could have an upside.
Amdist the dreary reports of dissolving stock markets and broken banks, consumer confidence has hit an all time low. That’s bad news for retailers but it could be the beginning of a new kind of old-style Christmas.
There was a time, not so long ago, when Christmas was more humble, more about the simple pleasures of a great meal and time with friends and family than about a December deluge of gifts (and the jabs of January credit card bills).
Consumer confidence, which tells us how good we feel about the state of the economy, has hit a 27-year low. The Conference Board of Canada has gone so far as to suggest we are entering the “psychology of recession,” even if our economy is not quite there yet.
Scotiabank’s annual Holiday Spending Study has found Canadians are scaling back gift spending by $133 to an average of $563, down almost 20 per cent from last year’s $696.
Some large companies are even cancelling Christmas parties for many reasons including a fear stakeholders might find it inappropriate to celebrate after laying off hundreds of employees or posting loss projections for the upcoming quarter.
But amid that doom and gloom there is a lining as silver as the frost on your local outdoor—and likely free—ice rink. The downturn is forcing people to re-evaluate life on the edge of a credit limit.
With the drop in consumer confidence, there is also a drop in gift expectations, and what was once tacky and unthinkable could become a new holiday tradition.
That tradition would be the annual Christmas re-gift, taking something you already own, or were given last Christmas, and passing it along to someone else.
While this recycling of gifts was once considered tasteless, a new Harris/Decima survey conducted for Canada Post found about a third of Canadians polled have already done it and two thirds said they don’t have problem with it.
eBay has even published some tips on re-gifting that include telling the receiver you are giving them something you already owned.
“Be honest. Just because you’re re-gifting doesn’t mean you have to fib and say you bought it new. A simple ‘I’ve had this for some time, but I know you'd appreciate it so much more than me’ goes a long way.”
The online auctioneer says friends and families will appreciate your consideration. Most respondents said they would rather get a re-gift, than no gift at all.
Which might be what some people are expecting.
Bloomberg is reporting that a projected two per cent drop in holiday spending will make 2008 the worst Christmas sales season in at least four decades. But the worst Christmas sales season does not necessarily mean the worst Christmas.
Last weekend the U.S. had its lowest shopper turnout in at least six years but that might just mean people were spending more time with friends and family, which certainly can’t be a bad thing.
In fact, if Christmas were to become more about people and less about gifts, it could go a long way toward curing a modern malady that is consuming too much of people’s happiness.
Psychologists have known for some time that materialism—a strong attachment to material goods to the exclusion of spiritual or intellectual values— is associated with depression and stress.
Findings by John Abela, associate professor of psychology at McGill University and director of the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Clinic at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, found that children as young as six can be affected.
“Materialists have a fragile sense of self because their worth depends on attaining external things. The quality of their interpersonal relationships suffers and they feel more stress while pursuing extrinsic goals,” Abela said in McGill magazine.
Psychologist Tim Kasser of Knox College found materialistic children have less self-esteem, are less happy and describe experiencing more signs of anxiety than their peers.
So if the downturn helps us wean our kids from the consumer Christmas, that might just make them happier in the long run. They might be let down they didn’t get that robotic dog, but imagine if the thing they look forward to most of all is having extra time with their less-stressed parents.
And while the economic downturn might be a worry now, if it changes our tendency to over-spend, it could lead to a lot less worry down the road.
Depending on whose data you look at, financial problems are the top, or among the top causes of stress and divorce. Another leading cause of stress is not having enough time.
One reason people have less time is because they are working more. Some studies indicate Canadians are working up to 145 hours of overtime every year. But if they are working more they should have less money worries, right?
Wrong. Statistics Canada reports that Canadians have been spending more and saving less with each passing decade.
“The national savings rate has been oscillating around historic lows for several years,” reads a 2005 Statscan report .
It went onto say that debt-financed consumer spending put the whole economy at risk because “ever-expanding debt has rapidly outpaced earnings growth. The resulting record-high, debt-to-income ratios leave households more vulnerable to income interruptions.”
If the downturn helps right that balance, which some sociologists are suggesting it might, the long-term financial prospects could improve for many Canadians.
Another bonus to a subdued “gift-mas” is ecological. Less stuff means less garbage, less by-products of production and generally speaking, a healthier planet.
While it is too early to say how significant the downturn will be, or predict its long-term impacts, it is possible to see the upside to a less materialistic, consumption-orientated Christmas.
If we do manage to escape Christmas with lower credit card bills, we might just find that we didn’t really need all that stuff anyway. And with less debt, we could also find the time to do more of the things we enjoy. Like taking a turn around the local outdoor free skating rink.
